by Sandra Kitt
CB started the car, calmly turned it around and headed to a local hospital that they both knew was about three miles away.
“You left your cell phone at the maître d’s desk. I knew you’d be ticked off if you didn’t have it until tomorrow night…”
Kevin could calmly recall the whole incident now, because it had had a good ending. But he really had no idea how to deal with Chloe and her stubborn, if understandable, defensiveness and pride. One thing he did know. Just like that awful night on that deserted street, he wasn’t going down without a fight. Chloe meant that much to him.
The office door opened, and Peg stepped in holding several sheets of paper.
“Sorry to bother you. You got a minute?”
“Sure. What’s up?”
“Where did this contract come from?” She handed it to him.
Kevin glanced at it quickly and handed it back. “That’s for the second Saturday in October. I’m letting Hollington College book Bollito for a dance party for their reunion.”
“There’s a problem, Kevin. You can’t. There’s another contract.”
“What contract? For Bollito?”
“Yes. Don’t you remember you agreed to a corporate party that night. They’re expecting a turnout of about six hundred people.”
“I don’t recall any of this,” Kevin said, frowning. He snatched the two contracts back and began reading carefully. “How did this happen?”
“Well, to be honest, you spoke with the CEO of the company, agreed to the plan and turned it over to me to draw up the contract. So you never really had anything more to do with it. But you never told me about your deal with the college. That second contract is not from us but from them. I’m only just seeing it now. Bollito is double booked, and both events are less than a month away.”
Kevin read every detail of both contracts. When he was done he cursed quietly under his breath. Then he nodded to Peg.
“Thanks, Peg. This is not your fault.”
“But what do you want me to do? Somebody’s got to be notified.”
“You don’t have to do anything. I’ll take care of it.”
Chloe twirled the lock of hair around her finger over and over again. She stared at the list in front of her, but it was all a blur. She’d canceled her afternoon appointment for the simple reason that she didn’t have it in her to fake interest and patience for someone else’s social event. And she was tired. It was a bone-deep, joint-sore, headachy exhaustion. She hadn’t been able to sleep more than four hours a night for almost a week.
She stared at her desk phone, as she was also wont to do with the one at home, as if the Devil himself was going to spring through it and confront her. She didn’t want to touch it, and every time it rang there was a possibility that Kevin was going to be on the end of the line. She couldn’t talk to him.
And it wasn’t as if she didn’t want to. Chloe didn’t have a clue what she could say to Kevin after that out of control display at his house. What a terrible thing to put him through after he’d just lost his father.
What in the world would he say to her? I’m sorry your mother’s a lunatic, but I can’t see you anymore? I don’t think we’re right for each other? I have my image and business reputation to think of? The range of possibilities was too awful to consider, and she just couldn’t face rejection right now.
What Chloe could do, and what she’d done several times a day behind the closed door of her office, was to play back the voice-mail messages that had filled her machine with Kevin’s onslaught attempts to reach her. He was calm, reasonable and persistent. Then the calls had deteriorated to pleas and begging…and worry. By then she was ashamed of her pouty attitude, but there seemed to be no turning back.
Billie Burns was still an issue but in another previously unimagined way.
Chloe lamented to herself that there was still no adequate way to describe how stunned, how speechless and betrayed she’d felt when she’d returned home after storming away from Kevin. The house was strangely quiet when she’d walked in. The TV had been off when she’d left, and Billie was still asleep. But the quiet then was different. She immediately became suspicious when she didn’t hear the TV. She walked right to the room Billie was using and looked in. Her stomach sank. Billie was not there.
Chloe walked through the house calling out the name but by now wasn’t expecting to get an answer. She found the front door unlocked and the door ajar. Billie was gone.
With that confirmed Chloe began a methodical walkthrough again of the house. She started on the upper floor. Although the barricade at the end of the hallway closing off the two guest rooms seemed to be in place, it was clear that it had been moved, with little attempt to put it back. Chloe shoved it aside and walked into both rooms. The comforters had been pulled off and thrown aside, and the sheets and pillowcases on the beds in both rooms had been removed and taken. In the bathroom soap and even toilet paper were gone.
With real reluctance Chloe went into her bedroom. The closets and all her bureau drawers had been opened and gone through, but it was hard to tell if any of her clothing were missing. None of it would have fit Billie, but Chloe didn’t worry about possible missing clothes or shoes. She hurried to find her jewelry box that she kept, not on the dresser top but inside the armoire. She lost all strength to feel anything when she saw that Billie had, apparently, methodically and with obvious knowledge, taken all the good pieces and left just the costume jewelry.
Numb and her spirit broken, Chloe returned to the first level. To her astonishment it looked as if Billie had thoughts to actually remove the flat screen TV. Cables and wires had been pulled out but the attempt abandoned probably when Billie realized she had no way to get it out of the house, let alone transport her booty safely.
There was no point in continuing to look at anything else, Chloe decided. She would eventually discover that Billie had managed to leave with ease because she was carrying small things. Nothing too heavy or too large. She had no idea how Billie might have gotten out of the community undetected, but she had. She made the decision not to report the thefts to the police but called at once for all the locks to be changed, and to have an alarm system installed on the first floor windows and doors.
No good deed goes unpunished, Chloe thought, dispirited. Billie had made a clean getaway and left her, once again, dealing with the aftermath.
It had been the second most terrible day of her life.
“Chloe, Kevin Stayton called again. He said it’s really important. Something to do with Bollito and the reunion.”
Chloe’s stomach churned. She knew she should take the call, but she was still suspicious and cautious enough that she wouldn’t put it past Kevin to use homecoming as an excuse to get her to respond. Well, he might win that point. But not right now.
“Lynette, I have an appointment across town in twenty minutes.”
“But Chloe, the man has been trying to reach you for two days. This is not like you. And I thought you two liked each other.”
“I’ve been busy,” Chloe said, not too convincingly.
“You’ve been in a daze.” Lynette sighed. “He’s going to call again. What should I tell him?”
I don’t know. I don’t know!
She realized that she was unfairly putting her staff in a difficult position. They shouldn’t have to run interference for her to this extent. They didn’t have to know that Kevin’s calls weren’t really about business.
Chloe picked up her purse and her sunglasses from her desk. She looked at Lynette’s concerned expression and gave in.
“Okay. Okay. I promise, I swear, I’ll deal with it when I get back. If Kevin calls again tell him I’ve had a lot on my plate recently. I will get back to him about whatever the problem is.”
Lynette nodded silently, still not convinced, but returned to her desk.
Chloe was reaching the end of her rope, and she knew it. When she’d gotten a call the day before from Attorney Lucius Gray, it was like the final nail
in the coffin. Mr. Gray had been quick to reassure her that she was not in any trouble. He wanted to talk with her about Billie Burns, her mother.
“Can’t you just tell me over the phone?” she’d asked, not willing to get any closer again to Billie than a phone call.
“I’d rather not. When you hear what I have to say you’ll agree that the matter is personal and you’ll want the information confidential. It won’t take long. My office is on Peachtree, southwest. There’s parking available. Can you make it tomorrow…”
Feeling like she was on a death march, Chloe left to keep her appointment. With each passing mile of her drive her tension increased. Her anxiety grew to monster proportions. And suddenly, she wished that Kevin could be with her as she tried to prepare herself for the worst. And then she denied the wish. She’d have to deal with this on her own, as she’d always done.
Lucius Gray’s office was a professional and upscale complex of offices in one of the newer business high-rises. The reception area was spacious and comfortable, with a discreetly partitioned-off space where visitors could get coffee, tea or bottled water. There was a small wall-mounted flat screen stationed to CNN, which was headquartered in Atlanta.
Chloe gave her name and rather than have her take a seat, as she’d expected, she was told that someone would be right out to get her. She hadn’t expected it to be Lucius Gray himself.
When he appeared Chloe found herself shaking hands with a tall, well-built man not any older than herself. She’d thought Lucius would be a more mature man. Although his skin was a medium-brown he had hazel eyes that were startling in his face; a nice-looking man. He was impeccably dressed in a perfectly fitted suit and he’d deigned to wear the jacket when he introduced himself, rather than appear more casual without one. This small factor indicated to Chloe that he was serious and adhered to a certain protocol.
As he escorted her to his office Lucius thanked her for coming in and apologized for being so mysterious about Billie Burns.
“I don’t think you were mysterious at all,” Chloe said caustically. “Once you told me this is about her, I knew it couldn’t be good news.”
He smiled but frowned slightly at her comment. He led the way into his office, a large light-filled space with its own conference corner, an oval table that comfortably sat four people. Instead of sitting behind his desk, Lucius suggested the more comfortable seating arrangement on the opposite wall. It consisted of a loveseat sofa with coffee table and adjacent side chairs. Chloe chose to sit on the sofa, and Lucius took the chair next to her after retrieving a folder from his desk and closing the door.
“I got the invitation,” he began.
Chloe, distracted and nervous, stared blankly at him. “What invitation?”
He smiled pleasantly. It transformed his face, softening his expression. “For the reunion. Class of 1999.”
Chloe raised her brows. “We graduated together?”
“We did, but we obviously didn’t know each other. I do, however, remember that you were valedictorian. You’ve changed,” he observed with a gleam of admiration in his gaze.
“I guess I should thank you. Nobody remembers me,” Chloe said without rancor.
“That must have been what you wanted,” Lucius said bluntly. “There was certainly enough opportunity to be involved, pledge, get pinned, stand out, make out.”
She smiled. He was right. But none of that was really her thing.
“Just a few more weeks until homecoming. How’s the response been?”
“Amazing. For the reunion we have about four hundred attending. For the homecoming overall it’s close to a thousand.”
“And you were in charge of it all?”
“How do you know that?”
“After I got the invitation I called the alumni office and asked. They turned me over to Kyra Dixon.”
Chloe relaxed. She’d half expected Lucius to mention Kevin’s name. She was glad that he didn’t.
“And that more or less brings us to the issue of Billie Burns,” he began, instantly serious again.
“Where is she?” Chloe asked, overcome with curiosity.
“In jail.”
She stared at the attorney. She saw not sympathy but another look that felt like he understood and he supported her and how the news might affect her.
“In jail. So how did you connect me to her?”
“Well, it’s a little convoluted. And it was just by accident that I even came across the case. But let me backtrack a little.
“There was an arrest warrant out for her for violating the terms of her parole. She’d moved out of the shelter she’d been placed in and never notified anyone where she was going. She neglected to report in as she was ordered to.”
My fault! Chloe was horrified to learn.
“When she was finally picked up it was not because of the warrant but for trying to sell credit card numbers and information to a fence. She and the fence were caught together. He’d been under surveillance for months. Billie just happened to be meeting with him when the authorities decided to shut him down. The credit card numbers were registered to you,” he said, staring at her.
Chloe closed her eyes and lowered her head. She felt embarrassed and humiliated.
“They also found jewelry and knew they couldn’t be hers, but the police weren’t sure they’d ever find the real owners. Now, did you ever hear from the police?”
“Not yet. But I have received calls from the credit card issuers about my account. I was told only that the accounts had been compromised. That’s the term they used. They were closing those accounts and issuing me new cards.”
He nodded. “Okay. That’s the information I have. Once there was a name to go with the card numbers the decision was made to contact you and see if you could identify any pieces.”
“But I still don’t understand how you got involved in this? Are you Billie’s court-appointed attorney?”
“No. I’m not a criminal attorney. The thing is, Ms. Jackson…”
“Chloe, please. We’re old classmates, remember?”
Lucius gave her that wonderful smile again, apparently pleased with her comment.
“Fair enough. Your name is familiar to a lot of people in Atlanta. They remember you from a recent magazine article, earlier this summer, and your TV interview…and a lot of local folks graduated from Hollington. Atlanta is a small universe. Some folks have asked me about you. I said I didn’t know you personally, but I could certainly find out.
“I also learned that you and Kevin Stayton have been dating. You’ve been seen together around town. But I decided not to get Kevin involved in this. I don’t know him either, but I’ve been to a number of his establishments. This matter of Billie Burns…I decided I wanted to try and keep it out of the papers, if you get my meaning.”
Chloe averted her gaze, horrified that she felt on the verge of tears. She swallowed the lump away in her throat and gave Lucius what she hoped was a smile of sincere gratitude.
“I appreciate that, Lucius.”
“As I said during our phone conversation, Chloe, this is very personal stuff. I don’t think it will serve any purpose for it to become public domain. It still could, but I want to see what we can do to prevent that from happening.”
“What’s going to happen to her?”
He sighed. “Well, it’s not pretty. She has quite a history. Unfortunately your mother seems to have spent nearly all her adult life institutionalized, in jail.” He sat forward, his expression puzzled. “She told authorities that you were taking care of her. That she was living with you and that everything she has of yours you gave to her. Can you explain, or is she being delusional on top of everything else?”
Her chin quivered with the memory of what she’d gone through with Billie, of how much her mother’s indifference had hurt and disappointed her. Of how Kevin had cared enough to want to protect her…of how she had hurled only accusations at him.
Tears fell finally. She discreetly tried to wip
e them away.
“Most of that is true, I’m afraid. Somehow Billie managed to find me early in the summer. She kept showing up at my office downtown. I was afraid she’d make a scene so I…gave her money. And…”
“You kept giving her money, and she kept expecting it,” Lucius concluded.
Chloe nodded. Lucius reached behind to the edge of his desk and faced her again, holding a box of tissues. She gave him a watery smile and took several to blow her nose.
“Pretty much. I don’t think my staff ever guessed why I was doing it, but they knew that I was giving her money and wanted me to stop. I couldn’t.”
“I can imagine. You felt some responsibility for her, even though she’d chosen her own path to follow.”
Her look thanked him again for his understanding. He used the phone extension on the coffee table to call out to his secretary. Lucius asked her to please bring in some hot tea.
“I wanted her to leave me alone, Lucius. I was terrified that someone would figure out that this…this bag lady was my mother. And someone did. Kevin Stayton. I was so angry that he’d found out I lashed out at him. I broke it off between us.”
Her voice warbled again. Lucius listened without comment.
“Billie started accusing me of trying to get rid of her. She hinted that she could cause me big trouble. She was going to tell everybody that she was my mother and I was making her live in a shelter.”
The tea tray arrived. Lucius took it and waved his secretary away. He poured her a cup, pushing it across the coffee table in front of her. Which was a good thing since she knew her hands might shake and the cup would drop.
“So I came up with a plan. I met with some city agencies and found out how I could get Billie into a group home. It would be better than a shelter. And I even found a supermarket willing to hire her on a trial basis, to bag groceries. I took her shopping to buy decent clothes. I…” Her voice broke again, and she stopped to take a sip of the tea before continuing. “I had her stay with me at my house for a weekend. But the minute I left her alone to take care of something important, I came back to find she’d gone, and she’d taken things from my house.”
